Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Geoffrey Cox and Nigel Mills

Thursday 6th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

4. What support he is providing to the CPS to tackle economic crime.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

6. What support he is providing to the CPS to tackle economic crime.

[The Attorney General (Mr Geoffrey Cox)]

Tackling economic crime requires a sophisticated multi-agency and cross-Government response. The Crown Prosecution Service is a vital part of that response. It prosecutes some of the more serious and complex cases, recovering a huge amount of ill-gotten gains. The Government are committed to tackling economic crime. We are introducing a programme of reforms to bring forward shortly, in particular, as my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk (Sir Henry Bellingham) will know, the National Economic Crime Centre.

[The Attorney General]

Unexplained wealth orders are a particularly valuable part of the armoury of the law enforcement agencies against corruption and bribery. They are a novel tool. The Government and the law enforcement agencies are looking at the correct and appropriate cases in which to use them. I am not aware of whether there has yet been any estimate of what might be realised by their use, but I expect that considerable numbers of them will be used over the coming months. An exercise is being undertaken to scope the first few to be started.

[Nigel Mills]

Will my right hon. and learned Friend update the House on the impact of the introduction of deferred prosecution agreements in tackling cases of economic crime, and particularly corruption and bribery?